AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter
Kieran Tapsell | Mar. 2, 2017
On March 1, Marie Collins, the only abuse survivor on Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, resigned because “what was happening behind closed doors was in conflict with what was being said to the public.”
On Feb. 23, three other members of the Pontifical Commission, Baroness Sheila Hollins of Great Britain, Bill Kilgallon from New Zealand and Kathleen McCormack from Australia gave evidence in a panel to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and expressed their frustration with the Vatican. Their views were personal, and did not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Pontifical Commission as a whole.
Justice Peter McLellan, the chair of the Royal Commission, told the panel that the work they were doing was of “fundamental importance to individual countries” because the work of the Royal Commission indicates that real change in the culture and practices of the church in Australia will only occur if “it’s coming from Rome.”
After several hours of questioning in which the panel spoke about resistance in Rome to the work of the Pontifical Commission and its lack of resources, McLellan observed: “The picture you all paint, from an outsider’s point of view, is of a world organization which is struggling to come to terms with the safety of children and its responsibilities in that area.”
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